Electrophoresis devices utilizing a gel as the flow medium to fill into a capillary have been developed containing a gel filling mechanism for replacing the gel in the capillary so that a large number of samples can be continuously and efficiently analyzed.
For example, a Prism 310 device made by Applied Biosystems (Corp.), injects polymer solution into (one) capillary using a glass syringe. However, since there is no fill mechanism, the amount of polymer solution that can continuously be used is determined by the volume of the syringe. The 3100 unit made by Applied Biosystems (Corp.), that fills polymer solution from a polymer fill syringe to a polymer injection syringe, has a polymer injection syringe (volume of 250 micro-liters) for injecting polymer solution into a capillary array comprised of 16 capillaries and also has a 5 milliliter glass syringe for filling the polymer solution. The fill syringe however is pressurized and sends polymer solution to the injection syringe by utilizing a dedicated drive system.
Devices for filling a viscous polymer solution into a capillary having a diameter from several dozen to several hundred micrometers require a high pressure of approximately several megapascals for performing the filling operation within a short time. Device must also be able to store a large volume of polymer solution in order to continuously process many samples.
In the above Prism 310, the amount of polymer that can be continuously utilized is limited by the syringe volume. Generally, high pressure syringes capable of withstanding a pressure of several megapascals or more have a small volume so this method is not suitable for processing large quantities of polymer solution. Also, when the fill syringe can hold a large amount of polymer solution, a greater force must be applied to press in the fill syringe. Finding a syringe having both the required volume and pressure-resistance is difficult and even if a suitable syringe could be prepared, a large load would be applied to the drive system.
The present invention therefore has the object of providing a capillary electrophoresis device capable of a raising the throughput when continuously using and analyzing large quantities of polymer solution.